


Well, Fuck Me.

by violaswimmer



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-10-09 20:44:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10421403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violaswimmer/pseuds/violaswimmer
Summary: When Keith discovers his feeling for Lance, he tries to keep them quiet. But he soon realizes he may not have to.





	1. Screwed

**Author's Note:**

> Okay! So first of all this is a continuation of my first series, Well, Shit! So please go read that story before reading this one because there is a lot of set up! There is Klance in that too but it's more fluff and this story which I will continue with a new chapter as soon as possible, is more of the characters romance! So if you want to see their friendship develop and get all the references please go read it! Thanks and enjoy!

It had been several weeks since Lance had been drained of his quintessence and was momentarily dead before recovering. Keith couldn’t help but notice (not just that Lance looked better and acted more of himself) but he just couldn’t help but notice _Lance_. The blue paladin invaded his thoughts however inconvenient and Keith noticed or more like he couldn’t ignore it.

Now Keith’s sexuality was something he neither confirmed nor denied. He was orphaned young, met Shiro and ultimately followed him to the Garrison. During the time that most people spent having relationships and figuring out their feelings, Keith was more worried about where he was going to get food. It wasn’t to say that once he got to the Garrison there weren’t girls around. In fact there were plenty but he never had much interest. Sure there we some that were attractive but he never felt the need to approach. Guys were the same thing, Keith wasn’t one to really care.

But this asshole. Keith looked at Lance now, taking off his helmet after an easy mission. Lance was talking to Hunk, sweat on his face he wiped it away with a goofy grin. Damn it. There was no getting away from it, Keith liked Lance, _a lot_. But there was a problem.

Keith wasn’t sure how Lance felt on the subject. Back on Earth sexuality was still such a mixed issue plus Keith was pretty sure that he’d only seen Lance talk to female aliens. So Lance was probably not interested, like _at all_ , but Keith couldn’t help it.

He wasn’t sure when he realized, maybe back on Kann when the two of them had stared at the scenery together. Maybe it was at the beach or when Lance nearly died from the quintessence being ripped from him. Maybe when Lance nearly died on the back of the green lion, before Keith resuscitated him. Keith didn’t know but when he thought about Lance his heart swelled in his chest, butterflies flew in his stomach and he wanted nothing more than to _be_ with him.

This was love and Keith was _totally_ screwed. There was no way he could avoid it but maybe he just keep it down, talk himself out of it. Lance looked over at Keith from across the room, turning from Hunk, he realized he must have been staring. Lance jogged over to Keith, helmet tossed under his arm, white scar rising with his eyebrow.

“Hey, Keith buddy, you okay?” Lance asked, hand falling onto Keith’s shoulder and he was sure that Lance could feel his heart give a painful thump.

“Uh- yeah, I’m… just tired I guess. Sorry.” Keith said, he was sure that he was blushing but maybe Lance didn’t notice.

Lance looked at him quizzically.

“Okay, maybe you should get some sleep before dinner. Let me know if you need anything. Still up for training tonight?” Lance asked.

Keith’s voice seemed to stop working so he nodded before Lance squeezed his shoulder and jogged back to Hunk.

Yeah. He was totally screwed.

 

* * *

 

 

Keith convinced himself that it was perfectly natural to feel love for another teammate. They spent every day together in stressful situations. So a sense of family or love was natural! Keith loved Shiro, not like _love_ -love just you know, love. Brotherly kind. But no matter how much he tried to convince himself he knew that was he felt for Shiro was not remotely the same as what he felt for Lance.

He and Lance had grown so close and Lance had done so much for him and the team. He was so sweet and such a great guy and Keith was just going deeper and deeper into this hole. Keith was beginning to lose all sanity he had left.

He had to talk to someone and _fast_. So when dinner ended that evening, before Keith would do some training with Lance, Keith stopped by Shiro’s room.

The doors slid open and into the wall, Shiro was seated on the ground in front of his bed and seeing Keith began to get up. Shiro walked over to the door, leaning against it with a curious look on his face.

“Hey, Keith what’s going on?” Shiro asked.

Keith was pretty nervous, this was just _weird_. He was used to talking to Shiro about things that were uncomfortable but this was on a whole different level.

Keith to a breath and set his shoulders.

“I need to talk to you, about a uh… private thing.” Keith said, looking determined.

Shiro blinked.

“Yeah, sure. Of course come in.” Shiro gestured to Keith to come into his room.

Keith did, rushing in and sitting down on the ground. Shiro joined him but before Shiro even fully sat down Keith was up again, pacing. Shiro was pretty used to this behavior, Keith wasn’t one to stay still for very long but it worried him.

“So what’s going on?” Shiro asked.

Keith stopped and turned to look at Shiro again, sitting down roughly onto the floor. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

“So let’s say… um…” Keith stopped and started again, “Have you ever liked someone, and you know they don’t like you but you like them anyway? What do you _do_? How should you act?” Keith asked.

Shiro blinked, clearly shocked. Keith had never, _ever_ liked anyone in his life before not that he had much time for relationships. But Shiro never really thought about having this conversation with him. He wasn’t sure why but this was pretty unexpected for Keith. But he mentally shook his head, Keith seemed very worried so Shiro did his best to think about this seriously.

He folded his arms and thought, Keith nervously watching him, fingers tapping on his leg.

“Well yeah. I’ve liked people and I know they didn’t like me.” Shiro said, thinking back, his memory was better from the days before his capture.

“What did you do?” Keith asked, sounding desperate.

“Well. I liked my friend, she was really great but not interested in me _at all_. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship but I knew I couldn’t keep quiet about it either. So I told her.” Shiro said.

“ _What?_ No way.” Keith said.

Shiro shrugged.

“I figured it was better to let her know, she rejected me but was understanding. We stayed friends until I went on the Kerberos mission.” Shiro stated.

Keith fell silent, looking at the ground.

“Keith, is there something I should know?” Shiro asked quietly.

Keith looked at him and back at the floor again.

“I don’t want you to treat me different, or get _weird_. I don’t know if I want to tell you.” Keith said quietly.

Shiro scooted closer so that he could put his hand on Keith shoulder.

“Keith, I’m _never_ going to judge you. So you can tell me anything. But I’m not going to push you either. If you need to talk to me you can.” Shiro said. 

Keith looked at Shiro and knew he was sincere and the words fell out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“I like Lance.” Keith said, quietly but firmly, a stated fact which made the situation infinitely worse. Now he just confirmed it. He was _so_ screwed.

Shiro’s hand didn’t move from his shoulder but it took him a minute to process that sentence. It was true that they two of them had become closer after recent events. But when the two of them came to Shiro’s mind, they were mostly fighting. But he could see it, and soon realized the way that Keith looked at Lance and how close they had become and it made total sense.

“I see. Well he is charming.” Shiro admitted.

Keith looked at Shiro.

“ _What?”_ Keith said incredulously.

“Lance is nice, and funny, he’s a good guy.” Shiro stated, squeezing Keith’s shoulder before letting go shift back to lean against the bed.

“I thought… I thought you might be _weirded out_. That I like a _guy_ , a _teammate_ especially.” Keith said.

“Well, yeah it’s a little unexpected but people like who they like, I especially know that now with how many different people we have met. It might be a bit complicated because we are a team but hey, I think we can work out anything.” Shiro said. “So why don’t you tell him?” Shiro asked.

“ _What?_ No Lance has only ever flirted with girl aliens, there is _no way_ he’d feel that way about me. Plus I don’t want to make it weird. We’ve _come so far_! He called me his _friend_! I don’t want to ruin that.” Keith said, bringing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

“Hey look,” Shiro began, “Lance is a _nice_ guy. I’m sure he would understand and that it wouldn’t ruin everything. I think it’s better that you tell him, at least have everything out in the open you know? No more secrets.” Shiro said.

Keith was silent for a long time before he answered.

“I’ll think about it.” Keith said.

 

* * *

 

 

Keith was given confidence a couple of days later. They had taken a small ship to grab supplies from a local planet that was selling special parts to make some more improvements for the castle. Coran accompanied them to the planet’s surface, describing what the parts looked like, each of the paladins given a small amount of money to see what they could find.

They split up, Hunk went with Shiro, Pidge went with Coran and Keith and Lance went together. Keith wasn’t so much nervous around Lance, his feeling didn’t change that fact that they were friends. But he was more aware of Lance and he stuck close to him.

They roamed the markets, stopping every once in a while to inspect a possible part before agreeing that it was not what they were looking for. There was one particular stall that had something promising, Keith make a bee-line for the stall and Lance moving to flirt with one of the customers with long white hair. Keith sighed, of course _another_ girl alien.

Keith stared at the merchandize while Lance interrogated/flirted the alien, but he couldn’t help but eavesdrop.

“Hey baby, come here often?” Lance asked.

“No.” The voice stated, a mixture of chimes.

“I was just trying to be friendly! You know getting to know all the pretty people around here.” Lance said with that _voice_.

“I believe you have mistaken me to be female, which I am in fact, not.” The alien stated.

Keith’s head snapped, looking at the back of Lance and over his shoulder. The alien was in fact not female. Tall, with long white hair, slender figure and bright blue skin with techincolor fish like eyes, beautiful but clearly masculine with built muscles and boyish-figure. Keith expected to have Lance apologize and reject the alien however that didn’t happen.

“What do you know? Neither am I we have so much in common!” Lance said.

Keith’s mouth dropped.

“I apologize but I cannot mate with another male species.” The alien said.

Lance held up his hands, “Babe I’m not looking to _mate_ I’m looking to _date_. You interested?” Lance asked.

The alien smiled at Lance.

“No, I am not.” The alien said.

“Alright then, thanks for your time.” Lance said smiling before turning back to the merchandize with Keith staring at him.

Lance glanced at Keith and caught him staring.

“ _What?_ ” Lance asked.

“You’re- you’re-“ Keith struggled to find the words.

“Bisexual?” Lance said helpfully.

“Yes! Thank you.” Keith said.

“Yeah, of course I am.” Lance said, confused.

“What?” Keith said, outraged, “Don’t say _of course_ , how was I supposed to _know?_ You’ve only have ever flirted with girl aliens!” Keith practically shouted.

Lance considered that for a moment.

“Well yeah, none of the dudes have attracted me before this guy. Plus there are plenty of times where we went to the market and I flirted with tons of guys, usually I’m with Hunk or Pidge and they know already. I guess I just forgot that you don’t know, or Shiro for that matter.” Lance added.

“Does it bother you?” Lance asked calmly.

“ _What?_ No, of course not I guess I was just… _surprised._ Sorry.” Keith said sheepishly.

Lance smiled clapping Keith on the back.

“I’m glad! Don’t worry about it!” Lance said.

Maybe Keith had a chance after all.  


	2. Weird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since Lance told Keith has been acting strange, and it's making Lance worry.

Lance wasn’t blind. He knew something was up but he didn’t know what exactly. Keith had given him such a weird look after the flirted with the guy at the market, and since then Keith had been watching Lance’s every move.

He _thought_ that Keith was okay with finding out about his sexuality so it could be as innocent as Keith wondering more about it. But Lance’s mind always jumped to the worst place, that Keith now _hated_ him. He knew that wasn’t true but he couldn’t help think of it! As soon as Lance would start talking to Keith the conversations were short and ended quickly, maybe Lance shouldn’t have said anything at all.

So Lance’s mood dropped slightly over the coming days causing everyone to become slightly concerned. After everything that happened they worried that Lance was agonizing over something and wasn’t tell them anything, like he used to. Shiro took this opportunity to talk to Lance after an easy mission.

Lance took off his helmet, looking downcast and not at all like himself.

Shiro made his way over and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, Lance. What’s up? You seem upset about something.” Shiro said.

Lance looked at him a little shocked before smiling weakly.

“Wow, nothing gets past you.” Lance said.

“I like to think I’m doing better with everyone on the team.” Shiro admitted, “Anyway what’s going on?” Shiro asked.

Lance looked around, a bit nervous and registered that the others including Keith had already left the hangar. Then he looked at Shiro and swallowed, it was fine to tell him, Shiro should know.

“I um… I think Keith hates me.” Lance admitted, looking extremely worried.

Shiro’s eyes widened.

“What? What do you mean?” Shiro asked.

Lance sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well… we went to the market a couple of days ago right?” Lance asked.

“Yeah.” Shiro said.

“Keith and I went together, and there was this cute alien…” Lance began.

Shiro knew where this was going.

“So I flirted with him and Keith got kind of shocked by it.” Lance said.

Just kidding, Shiro apparently didn’t know where this was going. Clearly the shock was on his face so Lance quickly continued.

“I’m- I’m bisexual, so I like boys _and_ girls. I didn’t bringing it up because I just… did think it was important. But _anyway,_ after I explained this to Keith he gave me such and weird look and since then we haven’t talked _like at all_. When we have it’s been short and weird and he told me he wasn’t bothered by it but what if he was? I don’t know…” Lance admitted.

Lance casted his eyes back down to the floor and Shiro, despite how distraught Lance was, wanted to laugh. Keith and Lance were completely silly and it was hilarious. Shiro swallowed his laughter and put both his hands on Lance’s shoulders.

“Hey, look at me.” Shiro said.

Lance did, concerned eyes reaching Shiro’s and the fear behind them hurt Shiro’s heart a bit.

“Lance, I don’t care who you like, really. If being out in space has taught me anything it’s that none of that stuff really matters.” Shiro said with a smile.

Lance gave a sigh of relief.

“But Keith’s behavior is probably not what you think. I’m sure he is just acting awkward because, well, he _is_ awkward. Just give him some time and he’ll come to you and explain everything.” Shiro said with another smile.

He let Lance go. Lance nodded.

“Okay. Thanks Shiro!” Lance shouted as he turned to take off his uniform, Shiro watching him disappear from the hangar.

 

* * *

 

 

Shiro went to visit Keith after his conversation with Lance, because now that Lance mentioned it Keith was acting kind of weird towards him. It was too bad that Lance thought Keith was mad at him instead of crushing on him.

Shiro gave a gentle knock on the door. Keith came immediately, standing in the doorway.

“Oh hey Shiro, what’s up?” Keith asked, curious.

“I thought I’d let you know that Lance thinks you’re mad at him.” Shiro said in a low whisper, Lance after all was in the room next door.

“What? Why-“ Keith began before being interrupted.

“Dude, you’ve been completely weird with him the last couple of day. I know why but Lance is worried that you’re mad at him because he revealed his sexuality to you. He thinks you’re mad about it or confused. We both know why you’re actually acting this way.” Shiro said with a smile, “But you should clear this up, Lance is really worried.” Shiro finished.

Keith stared, he had made a terrible mistake. He was just awkward around Lance because he was constantly thinking about how he was going to tell him about, well, liking him. Little else occupied his thoughts, but he hated the fact that Lance even thought that Keith hated him. He needed to make that right and fast.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll talk to him as soon as possible.” Keith said.

“Okay, good.” Shiro said with a smile before walking back down the hall.

Keith stood in his doorway for a long time before deciding it was now or never. So his put back his shoulders, set his jaw and walked five feet to knock on Lance’s door.

It took a bit for Lance to answer, long enough that Keith was about to knock again before the door slid smoothly into the wall.

Lance was in a rumpled shirt, his hair awkwardly squished to one side of his head. Keith noted his bed was a mess and guessed that he just interrupted Lance while he was sleeping.

“Keith!” Lance exclaimed a bit shocked, “Hey… what’s up?” He said.

Keith put down the hand that was just about to knock on the door, his heart was fluttering dangerously in his chest, and he swallowed.

“Hey, sorry I didn’t mean to catch you sleeping. If… umm… maybe I should come back later?” Keith suggested, backing up from the door a bit.

Lance stepped forward.

“No, its fine, I wasn’t really asleep anyway.” Lance admitted with a shy smile.

Keith immediately got worried.

“Wait are you _still_ not sleeping? Is it the quintessence? Should I get Allura?” Keith asked very concerned.

Lance blinked before breaking out into a smile.

“ _What_? _No_ I’m fine, really, I just didn’t sleep well last night and I tried to take a nap but I think I have too much adrenaline from the mission. Honestly don’t worry about it!” Lance said truthfully.

Lance sighed and smiled.

“I’m glad you stopped by, I thought you might be mad at me.” Lance admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

It was Keith’s turn to blink. He took a breath.

“Yeah I’m sorry about that, that’s why I’m here. Do you mind if…” Keith pointed generally in the direction of Lance’s room.

Lance moved aside.

“Come on in.” He said.

Keith did, walking past Lance to sit on the floor. He was still nervous but now that he was here the butterflies seemed to be a bit under control.

Keith looked around. He had never really spent much time in Lance’s room before. His bed was a mess, crumpled blankets in a tangle of sheets. The robe he loved to use was thrown over the back of a chair with bottles of beauty products scattered about the room.

Lance’s jacket was on a hanger in the closet. Compared to Keith’s room, Lance’s room looked like he _lived_ in it. Keith’s was an organized room without a lot of personal touches, but life as an orphan that went straight into the garrison does that to you. Keith couldn’t break the habit for always being ready to leave at any moment, even if he tried.

Lance came and sat in front of Keith, Keith taking a moment to look him over. Tall and lanky, clearly tired with his slight dark circles under his eyes. Rumpled shirt clung to him in ways that left little to the imagination. Light, white scars still existed on his tan skin, although not as much as they used to having faded more over time. The scar above his eyebrow was something that Keith had actually grown to love, in a way he felt that it actually suited Lance.

Keith quickly looked at the floor, realizing that he had been staring at Lance for a while. But Lance was patient and didn’t seem to mind, waiting for Keith to explain why he was acting so weird.

Keith took a breath.

“I’m sorry I have been _weird_ over the last couple days. When we went to the market and I learned more about you, I guess it just through me off.” Keith admitted.

“Learning I was bisexual?” Lance asked.

“Yes, _no_ … both I guess. It’s just..!” Keith looked at Lance breathlessly and the words blurted out before he had to chance to think about it.

“I _like_ you!” Keith practically shouted.

There was a moment of pure silence, Lance’s eyes widening until they were almost completely round and his mouth opening in a little o shape. But he didn’t say anything.

Keith continued on, rambling in the silence.

“I _like_ you like you. I don’t know when it started but recently I just kind of _realized_ it. I thought there was _no way_ you would like me since I only ever saw you flirt with girls… So I kept it to myself and I was planning on keeping it that way but I just couldn’t. You’re also my friend and I didn’t want to ruin that and I talked to Shiro and _he_ said I should just tell you anyway. And then you flirted with that guy and I thought I would have a chance with you. But then I couldn’t stop thinking about how I would confess and that’s why I’ve been weird because I’ve just been thinking about it! I’m _sorry_ , I should have told you sooner but I wasn’t sure how…” Keith finished, about all it coming out a mile a minute.

Lance has relaxed a bit while Keith spoke, understanding.

There was more silence again but Lance took his time to process the words that Keith had said.

Lance took a deep breath.

“ _Keith_.” He started, “Thank you for telling me. I haven’t looked at you that way before.” Lance saw Keith deflate almost immediately, “But it doesn’t mean I don’t _want_ to!” Lance said reaching over to lightly tough Keith’s hand, finders hovering gently over his.

Lance scar tissue felt strange on Keith’s fingers but he didn’t hate it, his heart did little flips in his chest.

“I just never thought you rolled that way. I had just assumed… which I shouldn’t have, that you liked girls or you didn’t want anything having to do with a relationship.” Lance smiled, “After all there is a lot going on and no offense but you’re a pretty serious person.” Lance said.

They both laughed a little, Lance retracting his hand much to Keith’s disappointment.

“I just _never_ thought about it before. But I want to try it.” Lance said, smiling, “If you’re up for it.”

Keith nodded, “Yeah, I am.”

Lance smiled again.

“Okay then! Let’s see if we can plan a date then.” Lance said, putting his finger to his chin, “Maybe we can ask for a night off or something. Although you can’t really _plan_ nights off with the universe be in danger all the time…” Lance trailed off thinking.

They were both silent, arms crossed and staring at the floor attempting to think about a way to go on a date in the middle of all the galaxy saving.

Keith had a thought.

“I know it’s not the most romantic thing but how about dinner tomorrow? Here on the ship, just the two of us?” Keith suggested.

Lance looked up at him.

“I would like that.” He said, with a small smile.

They both let off a goofy grin and Keith left with his heart soaring.


	3. Spinning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith's date gets postponed due to a sudden Galra attack that sends Lance spinning.

The date night was postponed, twice. The first time it was after an intense battle with a Galra fleet that left everyone exhausted Keith and Lance both agreeing that although they wanted to spend together they didn’t want to do it while half falling asleep into their dinner. The second time was well, a bit more chaotic.

The Voltron team had passed a distress beacon and decided to talk a look. When they arrived to the planet a Galra fleet was about to land, no doubt to enslave the people and deplete the planet of its quintessence. They all rushed into action, getting in their respective lions. The fleet was small so it wasn’t necessary to form Voltron. They each had their target. Pidge was focused on taking out the small fighters trying to worm their way down to the planet’s surface through the chaos. Lance and Hunk took the giant ship to the right and Shiro and Keith did the same on the left. The castle backed them up.

Now as everyone knows, Lance doesn’t have the best luck or more likely he just kind of seeked out trouble. So when he heard the sharp intake of breath that belonged to Keith in his ear, needless to say his attention was drawn to him. Lance then saw a bright light that was very familiar. Giant Galra laser kind of familiar. Lance whipped his and Blue’s head around to see Shiro and Keith dart to either side of the giant beam, just barely escaping the blast.

“HUNK! Finish it!” Lance yelled over the comm.

“Got it!” Hunk replied, barreling towards the ship. Lance saw the faint glow and felt the pressure as the ship exploded behind him. But he was more focused on what was happening in front of him.

“What the _hell_ was that?!” Keith asked as Lance saw the beam begin to fire again, much faster than normal.

“KEITH LOOK OUT!” Shiro shouted but he was scattered to far, his lion still recovering.

But Lance was there and as the Red lion began to turn and the beam began to fire, the Blue lion rammed into the Red sending her flying. But even with the floating momentum of Blue lion didn’t bring it out of firing range and Lance saw with Blue’s eyes as the beam went towards them. He urged the two of them to move but felt a sudden impact in his very soul as Blue forced him out of her body and back into his own.

His head slammed into the back of his chair and the beam connected, just barely with Blue back leg. There was an explosion and the Blue lion began to spin violently. The screens were still on, although they were all red, but Blue not being out of commission was something. Lance heard over the radio the rest of his team shouting his name. But he couldn’t reply without possibly throwing up so he kept his mouth shut.

But something heavy pressed on him making the spinning much worse. The planet’s gravity, he and Blue were crashing to the planet’s surface. The g-forces were taking their toll and for once Lance was thankful when his brain couldn’t take it and everything went black.

 

* * *

 

Keith watched as the Blue lion began to spin out of control, his heart in his throat.

“LANCE!” Keith shouted desperately.

“GO GET HIM! HUNK, PIDGE AND I WILL TAKE CARE OF THIS, GO!” Shiro shouted, the black lion appearing next to Keith.

Shiro didn’t have to tell him twice.

Keith speed towards the Blue lion and felt as they began to be pulled by the planet’s gravity. The one problem was how he was going to get Blue to stop spinning and how he was going to help Lance land safely. Although Red certainly was the fastest, she was also the smallest. Which meant that stopping the spinning Blue lion was going to be difficult.

“LANCE? CAN YOU HEAR ME?” Keith shouted.

No reply. Lance was probably unconscious with all that spinning. Red approached Blue spinning form. He began to think about how he was going to do this when images came to his mind. Red was telling him something and he listened.

“ _Okay_ , okay. We’ll try it.” Keith said.

He sped up, matching the Blue lion’s speed before beginning to spin himself. He held onto the controls and waited until he was about the same spinning speed as Lance. The g-forces were strong but he just needed to grab Blue. He did, Red grabbing as Blue’s underbelly. Then the thrusters went full speed pushing the opposite way of their spin, slowing them down until finally they were finally stopped.

They were about to the planet’s surface and there was no way that Red could carry Blue back through the atmosphere and into space so Keith set the two of them down. Blue laid on her side while Red sat down into her normal position. The planet’s surface was dry and cracked soil with some vegetation here and there. He was glad he stopped Blue before they crashed because that could have damaged her badly without anything to break her fall.

He couldn’t move fast enough. Before Red even touched down fully Keith was already out of his seat and running to the ramp to get to Lance. The good thing was that aside from a burn mark where the laser hit, Blue looked relatively unharmed. Keith climbed to her mouth and it opened softly, just enough to get him inside.

How many times had he been inside the Blue lion? How many times had he come in this lion to check on Lance? _Too many_.

Keith carefully navigated the cockpit, since Blue was on her side everything was slanted. He saw Lance, limp in his chair, his whole body hanging only held there by the seatbelt. Keith swallowed and worked his way over as fast as he could without sliding down the cockpit.

Once he was in front of Lance he assessed him and sighed in relief when he saw he wasn’t injured. He gently took off Lance’s helmet, and tapped the side of his face.

“Lance? _Lance?_ Come on buddy, I need you to open your eyes.” Keith practically begged.

There was nothing for a bit before a groan escaped Lance lips and he cracked open an eye before shutting them again.

“I thought we agreed that we wanted to be more than ‘buddies’.” Lance complained.

Keith laughed, relief filling him up.

“Yeah but we’re just dating so I’m not sure what nicknames are appropriate.” Keith admitted.

He left his hand on the side of Lance’s face, helping him sit up properly which Lance appreciated.

“How are you feeling? Are you hurt?” Keith asked.

Lance swallowed and tried opening his eyes again, before shutting them with a grimace.

“My head, I hit it during the explosion. The light… it’s hard to look at.” Lance admitted.

Keith nodded.

“Okay, let me look.” Keith said.

Lance complied as Keith took his face in both of his hands and moved his fingers gently along Lance’s scalp, looking for a bump.

“In any other situation this would be really relaxing.” Lance said quietly, his head practically touching Keith’s chest.

Keith blushed a bit.

“Well when we get you out of this I’ll give you as many scalp massages as you want.” Keith said quietly back.

“That sounds- OUCH!” Lance shouted, hissing.

“Sorry.” Keith said gently, moving Lance’s head to lean on his chest so he could see the bump better. But his heart still fluttered and he wondered if Lance could feel it through his forehead.

“Yeah you have a big bump. You might have a mild concussion. What’s your name and who are you?” Keith asked.

Lance’s voice was muffled by Keith’s chest but he replied dutifully.

“My name’s Lance and I’m the blue paladin of Voltron. You’re heart’s beating pretty fast man. You nervous?” Lance asked innocently.

Keith stiffened.

“Well, maybe. I’m not very experienced with dating or touching or much of _anything_ really.” Keith admitted.

He gently leaned Lance back into his chair, careful to watch the bump on the back of his skull. Lance managed to open his eyes into small slits but he smiled.

“No you’re… you’re fine. I was just teasing. Plus you’re experienced in a lot of things like being a pilot and knives.” Lance said.

Keith smiled, “Thanks.”

“No prob.” Lance said.

Lance moved to undo his seatbelt and Keith made sure he had hands ready to steady him. Lance practically fell as soon as he stood up, the combination of the cockpit being on an angle and a concussion made it hard to move around. But eventually they got out of it with Lance’s arm swung around Keith’s shoulder and Keith’s hand on his waist.

They moved out of the cockpit and Keith helped Lance climb down Blue, offering a hand to help him down when Lance refused to allow Keith to carry him. By the time they climbed down the Blue lion Lance was exhausted and sat on the ground where his feet landed. Keith joining him.

They sat in silence for a little bit.

“Thanks.” Keith said.

Lance took a bit to answer, his eyes closed.

“For what?” Lance asked.

“You saved my ass, _again_. So… thanks.” Keith said.

Lance laughed and seemed to regret it as he let out a hiss. But he smiled anyway.

“It’s what I do, saving the ass of attractive men. Only the attractive ones though.” Lance said.

Keith lightly punched him.

“I think only saving attractive men is against the Voltron code or something.” Keith said.

“Voltron code? No, yeah you’re probably right.” Lance said, “Plus there’s plenty of attractive women too, can’t forget about them.”

“You’re unbelievable.” Keith said with a sigh.

“But admit it, you’d be lost without me.” Lance said with a grin.

Keith took in a breath.

“Yeah you’re right.” Keith admitted.

There was a slight stunned silence from Lance who was about to reply when a familiar voice came on over the comms.

“Everything alright down there? The castle is coming to get you.” Shiro said.

“Understood.” Keith said.

There was a brief silence before Hunk’s voice came on.

“I can’t believe you guys are dating!” Hunk said with such happiness.

Keith froze and so did Lance, the two of them turning to look at one another.

“Pidge is pissed since she lost the bet. By the way, you guys left your comms on.” Hunk said with a laugh, “See you at the castle. And Lance? You owe me details man.” Hunk said sternly.

Lance groaned.

“Okay, _mom_.” Lance said before a thought occurred, “ _Wait_. What bet?”

The question was only met with Hunk’s laughter.

Lance turned to look at Keith, his eyes mostly open and gave him a smile. The two of them laughed as they watched the castle descend from the clouds.


	4. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance finally have their date and learn more about one another.

So finally the night had come. In a way is was a good thing that everyone had heard of their plans. Now they didn’t have to sneak around the castle and make vague excuses. As soon as Keith and Lance came back from the planet with their lions, Lance was put in the healing pod. His concussion was a bit more than mild so he needed two hours in the blue pod.

Keith changed out of his uniform and went back to the pod, standing right in front of it. He looked at Lance’s face so blank and peaceful, not really looking like Lance at all. Again Keith wondered how many times he had seen that face behind the blue glass and the number was too hard to admit.

Keith was so focused that he didn’t even notice the rest of the team had walked into the room. Shiro’s hand landed on Keith’s shoulder and he jumped slightly, so absorbed in his thoughts.

“Hey.” Shiro said, looking at Keith and then at Lance’s vitals.

“Hey.” Keith answered relaxing a bit.

There was a couple of moments of silence.

“You looked pretty deep in thought.” Hunk said, “Thinking about your _date_?” Hunk asked innocently.

Keith groaned but laughed, of course the team was going to make fun of them it was part of the fun. But he sobered.

“I was thinking about how many times I’ve seen Lance in this pod, actually.” Keith took a shuddering breath, “I’m _worried_ , I guess. He just… gets into so much trouble. Usually it’s to save someone else too and I know we’re like _defending the universe_ and stuff but with the amount of times Lance is in here… _I’m just scared for him_.” Keith admitted, the last part was barely a whisper.

This time the silence was contemplative.

“He’s been through so much already.” Pidge said, her voice calm but slightly sad, “I mean he went _half-blind_ for a while and everything that happened inside his head too. I know he still sees Lotor sometimes, even if he doesn’t say anything. I just _wish_ …” She took a breath, “I wish that he was a bit more selfish, thought about himself more. He’s so worried about the rest of us and well… he gets into trouble like this.” Pidge finished.

Shiro nodded in agreement.

“But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that Lance is just a really caring person and he doesn’t want to bother other people with his problems. Maybe we can talk to him a bit later. Let him know we’re worried. But for now let’s let Keith and Lance have their date, kay?” Shiro said.

Keith turned to look at him a slight blush coming across his cheeks. Shiro slapped his back and left Pidge following close behind. Hunk came up behind Keith and threw his arm around Keith’s shoulders.

“Keith, I expect you to take care of him.” Hunk paused, looking straight into Keith’s eyes, “He has a sensitive heart, _don’t go breaking it_.” He finished.

Keith swallowed, it was a side of Hunk he hadn’t seen very much. He was vaguely threatening and his expression was cool.

“Yes, of course.” Keith replied.

Hunk’s mask broke and he smiled, squeezing Keith’s shoulder and leaving. Keith watched him go as he turned back to Lance’s pod, watching him breathe.

 

* * *

 

Keith was right there when the pod door opened and Lance stumbled out of it. If Keith hadn’t had his hands ready Lance would have gone head first into the floor. Keith steadied him, one hand firm on his arm, the other holding his waist.

Lance blinked a couple times before smiling.

“Hey!” He said.

Keith snorted and smiled back, Lance of course was acting like this was normal.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” Keith asked, removing his hand from Lance’s waist and holding on to his elbow instead.

Lance took a few shaky steps forward before answering.

“Good!” Lance said, straightening.

Keith let go and Lance sway a bit but kept standing.

“I’m _hungry_ , you want to have that date now?” Lance asked.

Keith blinked.

“Yeah, only if you’re up for it though, I know the pod can take a lot out of you.” Keith said.

Lance stretched, becoming even taller for a moment before answering.

“No I’m fine, I didn’t spend too much time in there anyway. Let me change and then we’ll go to the dining hall together.” Lance said.

Keith nodded while Lance tried to take a step forward, his leg buckled and he pitched forward. Keith grabbed him by the shoulders before he completely fell. Lance looked at him wide eyed before breaking out into a grin.

“I _might_ need you to help me to my room.” Lance admitted sheepishly.

Keith smiled.

“Sure thing but are you sure you’re alright?” Keith asked.

“Yes, my legs are just shaky. Don’t you get shaky when you haven’t eaten in a while?” Lance asked.

“Sure I do but when’s the last time you ate?” Keith asked.

Lance paused to think.

“Breakfast?” Lance suggested but he didn’t sound sure.

“ _Lance_.” Keith said sternly.

“Hey now, don’t judge me! I was going to eat I _swear_ but then the attack happened before I could grab a ration bar! Don’t look at me like that.” Lance said.

Keith shook his head.

“You should just carry ration bars with you.” Keith suggested.

“What? And ruin the sleek line of my clothing with blocky ration bars? No thanks.” He paused, “Do you carry ration bars with you?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded and dipped a hand into the pocket of his jacket pulling out two.

“ _Oh my god_.” Lance laughed, “I’m dating a mullet guy who carries ration bars with him. This is insane.” Lance said continuing to laugh.

“Shut up.” Keith said, “Or I’ll let you go.” Keith said, moving his hand away from Lance’s shoulders, Lance grabbing his hand quickly to keep it in place so he didn’t fall over.

“Wait no! _I need you mullet man_!” Lance yelled in fake distress.

Keith laughed and the two of them began to make their way to Lance’s room.

 

* * *

 

Keith leaned against the wall outside of Lance’s door waiting for him to come out from changing. Keith had to admit that he was slightly nervous. Maybe more than slightly. They were finally going on this date and Keith wasn’t even sure what they were going to do. Yeah they were going to eat and usually you talk during that but is there something special he should have done? Like candles or something? Does this space ship even have candles? Keith brought his hand to his face, _this was stupid_. He really should have asked Shiro for advice first.

Lance was taking a long time. Keith turned and went to knock on the door.

“Lance? You okay in-“ But he stopped talking, he must have gotten too close to the door because it flew open.

Lance was standing in the middle of the room, back to Keith. He had his pants on and his shirt was over his head but not before Keith got a full view of the burn on his back. It looked better than before, but it was still there and pale on Lance’s tan skin. Another permeant reminder of how much Lance was willing to sacrifice for Voltron and for him.

Keith swallowed.

Lance heard the door open and turned. He looked a little surprised and smiled.

“Oh couldn’t wait? Want to get straight to the _steamy_ bits?” Lance asked with a smirk.

Keith blinked before blushing.

“No! _God, Lance_.” Keith still smiled despite himself, “I was wondering what was taking so long.” Keith said.

Lance shrugged, walking towards Keith.

“What can I say? I’m a traditionalist. I was looking for a nice outfit.” Lance said.

Keith noticed. The t-shirt he had on was one Keith hadn’t seen before. It was bright white and looked to be a nice material. Lance also had on pants that looked like khakis with his shoes. To be honest Keith was impressed.

“Where did you find this?” Keith asked pointing to the shirt.

“Mostly from those weird markets, you’d be surprised how much Earth stuff is scattered around! I picked up a few things here and there.” Lance said, “Anyway, let’s get going.”

Lance smiled and Keith smiled back. He was wondering how he was so nervous a few seconds ago but now he felt so calm. He felt at ease with Lance.

They made their way down to the dining hall.

“I hope Hunk left us something to eat I can cook but I have _no idea_ what to do with space ingredients.” Lance said.

“You cook?” Keith asked, curious.

“Sure I do, mostly Cuban stuff. Although Hunk taught me some other recipes too. I have a lot of siblings, younger ones and older ones that are just busy. Usually if my mom was working late I’d cook dinner.” Lance said with a slightly sad smile before brightening again.

“Really I do miss cooking, although Hunk’s cooking gets better by the day. I have no idea how he figures out what is what, I mean the things that man can do with space goo.” Lance shook his head and laughed.

They entered the dining hall to find things were set up for them. There were two plates of food with utensils on the table which had been covered with a white sheet that was clearly too small for it. There was a vase of some kind of makeshift flowers with small, some _things_ around it. Likely offerings left by the mice in their attempt to contribute. Keith blushed while Lance laughed.

“I _can’t_ believe them! This is great.” Lance said, making his way over to the table.

Keith smiled despite his blushing.

“You’re right, this is… pretty nice.” He admitted.

Keith took a seat at one end of the table, the other dish was at the opposite end which Lance promptly picked up and moved to sit next to Keith. Keith could feel the blush getting deeper.

“ _So_ ,” Lance began taking his new seat, “Tell me about yourself, Keith.” Lance said moving to begin eating.

“ _What_? Um… well what do you want to know?” Keith asked caught off-guard.

“Well, to be honest I don’t know a _ton_ about you. All the stuff I know is from the Garrison and you know the more recent events. So tell me about yourself.” Lance said, taking a bit of his food.

“ _Uh_ …” Keith hesitated.

Lance swallowed.

“If you don’t that okay too! I… uh I figured we should know each other better.” Lance said sheepishly, a blush of his own on his cheeks.

Keith smiled, throughout this whole thing Lance seemed so put together and like he knew what he was doing. It was actually nice to see him a little more flustered.

“No! _No_ , I want to tell you… I just need to think of where to start.” Keith smiled, taking a bite of his own food. Hunk really outdid himself.

He swallowed before starting.

“I was born in the US, I was raised by my dad. He was a good guy, I guess you could say he’s a lot like Shiro.” He paused, “I never knew my mom, my dad told me that she left shortly after I was born. But I never really thought about it because I had him. But when I was ten he died. He got sick, that little house I was hiding out in when we escaped the Garrison? That was my house. We were out in the middle of nowhere, and it was one of the illnesses that didn’t have many symptoms so there was no way we would have known…” Keith trailed off.

Lance’s scarred hand appeared over his own and squeezed it gently.

“I’m sorry.” Lance said sincerely.

Keith smiled and shook his head.

“It was a long time ago. But thank you. You lost your dad too, right?” Keith asked, remembering.

Lance nodded, his hand didn’t move.

“ _Yeah_ , he died after my youngest sister was born. He was a military guy or a… used to be that’s how I learned to shoot. He saw some sort of big accident on the road back to our house. The gas tank of this old car was about to blow. So went in and threw the guys out of the car. They made it, he didn’t. He was… a _good_ man.” Lance smiled, “That was a long time ago.” He said finally.

Keith was the one to squeeze Lance’s hand, brushing his thumb over his knuckles. They took a moment of silence before Keith continued.

“I was alone, for a while. But I had to feed myself. Someone must have spotted me stealing food or something because a few days later Child Services was knocking at the door and I was put into the foster system. I didn’t get along with most of my foster families. Some of them were fine, others were… _not_. I was angry and antisocial and difficult. No one wanted to deal with me, not that I could blame them really, I certainly wasn’t helping. That’s when I met Shiro.” Keith said.

Lance blinked.

“I knew you two were close but I had assumed you met him at the Garrison or something.” Lance said.

Keith shook his head.

“No I met him before but he is the reason I joined, originally. Shiro was part of this organization that help kids that are having difficulties. It might be behavior issues or just need some extra help. Most of the time it was for kids that belonged to a family already, foster kids weren’t really on the list. But the foster family I was with at the time had some strings pulled so I could become part of the program. The Tuccis were a really nice family, they thought the program would do me some good. They were right.” Keith smiled.

“So I met Shiro, he was my big brother sort-of, basically we would hang out for an afternoon every week. At first I _hated_ him.” Keith said matter-of-factly.

Lance laughed.

“ _Really?_ ” Lance asked.

“Yeah, he was an absolute boy scout, honestly he hasn’t changed at all. Super into wanting to bond with me and persistent, which of course eventually worked.” Keith laughed.

“So when I turned fourteen I joined the Garrison because Shiro already had. He kept telling me about this _super-secret_ mission that he wanted to get on, later I figured out later that that was the Kerberos mission. He went on the mission a couple months later. He sent me emails when he could over the next two years and when he stopped well I wanted answers. He was my family, and because of everything the Garrison refused to talk to me, same thing with Shiro’s family too. So I left at sixteen to see what I could find on my own and then a year later I got info the info I needed. Shiro’s ass fell out of the sky, and that’s where you and everyone else came in.” Keith finished.

They ate silently for a bit.

“You’ve had a tough time so far.” Lance said.

Keith looked at him slightly confused.

“You lost your dad, went into foster care, than lost the only family you knew. Now you’re a paladin fight for the universe. _You’ve been through a lot_. Maybe you get this enough from Shiro but, you’ve done a great job. I proud to have you at my back.” Lance said with a smile.

Keith was shocked for a moment and his heart swelled with warmth. He and Lance had gotten so far. He never thought that in the beginning, he and Lance would be here. He smiled back.

“Thank you, that means… a lot more than you think.” Keith said.

“It’s the truth, and don’t you forget it.” Lance said sternly, going back to his food.

The rest of the dinner was small talk, and it was nice. Better than nice, it was the greatest, the best night that Keith had in a long time.

 

* * *

 

Keith and Lance walked back to their rooms which were right next to one another. Keith suddenly got very nervous because what do they do now? Are they supposed to plan another date? Do they go straight to bed? He wasn’t sure.

But before he knew it the two of them were standing in the space between the doors that lead to their rooms. Keith swallowed.

“I really enjoyed our date.” Lance said, turning to Keith with a smile.

“Yeah, so did I.” Keith said smiling back.

They stood there for a moment, when Lance did something that Keith had not entirely expected. Lance closed the space between them in a step, his face inches from Keith’s. Despite the fact that Lance was only an inch taller, this close he seemed so much bigger.

“Is it alright if I kiss you?” Lance asked his breath sweet on Keith’s nose.

Keith couldn’t vocally reply so he just nodded. Lance blushed but placed his hand on the side of Keith’s face, the scars rough on his skin. He leaned in and Keith closed his eyes. Lance’s lips were soft and light on his mouth. There was no spark or explosion like in all the movies but warmth and softness. Lance’s lips felt like butterflies on his so soft and barely there. The kiss only lasted a few seconds but to Keith it felt longer. They parted, Lance’s hand stroked Keith’s face before he let go completely.

“Good night, Keith.” Lance said. He blushing.

“Uh… Yeah, good Night, Lance.” Keith said, blush of his own coming onto his cheeks.

They both turned and went into their respective rooms thinking about the last few moments they had just had.


	5. The Bitch Came Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance doesn't have much time to think about his kiss with Keith when Lotor comes knocking on Voltron's door. Can the team come up with a solution to defeat the enemies new weapon? And when will Lance and Keith get to go on another date in the chaos?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the wait! It's finals week but now that I'm done with that these chapters show come out at a more timely manner! Thanks for being patient!

Lance had a list. A list of things he never expected to happen. Kissing Keith outside of his room was definitely on that list. Also soon as his own door shut behind him, Lance collapsed to the floor. He was a jumble of happy nerves and couldn’t help giggling. How silly was this?

It took him hours to calm down before he tried to go to bed. So he laid down on his sheets curling them around his body. Despite the fact that he knew that Keith didn’t use chapstick (something he commented on relentlessly, your lips are very important) Keith’s lips had been surprisingly soft.

Who knew the hot-headed Keith had such a cute side? The way his eyes had fluttered shut before they kissed. Lance’s heart swelled, it had been a long time since he felt this way. He fell asleep with warmth in his heart.

 

* * *

 

Of course the moment of peace they had couldn’t last long. Lance awoke to alarms ringing against his ears and shot out of bed. Unlike the last couple of times he knew this wasn’t a drill. Lance put on his uniform with precision having done it a thousand times. He grabbed his helmet and rushed out of his room in record time with Keith a second later, catching up to Lance who had already begun to run down the hall.

“Do you know anything?” Lance asked, yelling over the alarms.

“No, straight to the lions.” Keith yelled back.

“Got it!” Lance said.

The two of them reached their respective lion ports that took them to their lions but Keith stopped Lance with a gentle arm around his.

“Hey, uh….” Keith swallowed before looking straight into Lance’s eyes, “Be careful out there.” He said softly but despite how loud the alarm was Lance still heard him.

Lance moved his arm so he could hold Keith’s hand instead, squeezing it.

“You too.” He replied.

He gave Keith’s hand one last squeeze before letting go and getting into their lions.

Allura’s voice chimed against his ear.

“It’s Lotor, he’s found us.” Allura stated, “Two battle ships, five war ships and two cruisers. One is the Lotor’s personal ship the others are Galra forces.” She said.

“But how did he find us? When we removed the quintessence from me I thought he wouldn’t be able to track us again.” Lance said the panic rising in his voice as he grabbed the bars sliding down the hallway and landing in the pilot’s seat.

“Lance, don’t worry. We think he was informed.” Allura said slight anger in her voice.

“Informed? You mean someone ratted us out?!” Keith joined, outraged.

“Yes. Probably, the last few days we have been operating in Galra space. It is likely that one of the nearby planets saw our ship and thought that they could gain favor with the Galra if they informed them of our location. With the amount these planets have been through I would not be surprised.” Allura sighed.

“Too bad they don’t know that the Galra don’t really care, they’ll keep hurting them anyway.” Pidge grumbled.

“True.” Allura agreed, “But their desperate.” She said.

“Alright team Voltron. Time to kick Galra butt, Lance, Keith and I will take on Lotor’s battleship. Pidge focus on those cruisers and make sure they don’t try to take any of us out. Hunk see what you can do about those war ships. Let’s go!” Shiro said.

The lions launched into space with the Galra fleet in front of them. Lance swallowed, Lotor’s ship didn’t really hold great memories but he was ready to put another dent in the piece-of-shit ship. He followed Shiro and Keith who were ahead of him.

“So what’s the goal here?” Lance asked as they advanced.

“We hurt them enough to get them to flee. We just need to scare them off. We don’t have enough power yet to take on Lotor.” Shiro said over the radio.

“Okay got it!” Lance replied.

He used Blue’s eyes to see everything before him, moving her with the cat-like grace that he was used to. They began their attack. The three of them flanked the massive ship while Pidge and Hunk went to their respective targets.

They went up against the ship which still looked like a piece of shit. They attacked, Lance using his ice beam and freezing a good chunk of the ship. Shiro’s lion grew its wings that were huge on its back. But some strange happened then. Lotor’s ship released a purple light that pulsed from its canon and spread over everything in sight like a wave through space.

Lance felt something pass through him as the purple light washed over his lion but nothing happened. It felt like electricity passing through his being and Blue’s.

“Is everyone okay?” Lance asked.

“Yeah… I think so what the hell was-“ Keith was cut off as the Black lion rammed into Red.

Lance was still for only a moment before he took action.

“KEITH!” Lance shouted.

Lance moved Blue quickly, latching onto the black lion’s back who was attacking the red lion relentlessly.

“SHIRO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” Lance shouted.

There was a grunt of pain before Lance heard Shiro’s voice.

“It- it isn’t me, my arm…. It’s moving by itself!” Shiro said growing more panicked.

So it was the druids. It must have been.

“Fuck me.” Lance groaned he grappled with the black lion’s shoulder, biting down. The black snapped at blue but now Lance got his attention.

“Keith, babe you okay over there?” Lance shouted through the comm.

There was a moment of silence before Keith answered.

“Yeah… yeah I’m good. I’m good.” Keith said before becoming the leader that he was, “Hunk get over here, you and Lance have the bigger lions. In a straight up fight you might be able to take the black lion. Pidge with me and let’s keep the Galra distracted while we deal with this. Allura, can you help us?” Keith asked.

“Yes of course, the castle will back you up. Coran will try to help with the black lion.” She stated.

Hunk joined Lance taking the opportunity to jump on the black lion’s back attempting to restrain him. But the black lion was too large even for the two of them. But they struggled nonetheless.

“Shiro! Whatever they did that is _still your arm_ , try to control it as best you can!” Lance suggested although he knew that probably wouldn’t work.

Shiro’s swallow breaths were heard for a moment before his voice.

“I’m trying!” he said desperately.

“We-we know! We know you’re trying. It’s okay! It’ll be okay.” Hunk said although you could hear the strain in his own voice.

When Coran’s voice came on the comm it was like hearing an angel.

“Alright there isn’t much we can do to physically restrain the black lion. However, Shiro try and sever your bond with your lion.” Coran suggested.

“ _What?_ ” Shiro asked confused and outraged.

“You’re not going to permanently sever it just _for now_. If you do that the black lion may no long heed your commands no matter what your hand may or may not do.” Coran said.

There was a long pause.

“Alright, I’ll try.” Shiro said before going silent.

The black lion broke into a struggle that was worse than before. As if it could sense that its time was short and was trying to cause as much damage as possible before losing control. Lance was dislodged from his position, Blue hit squarely in the chest that Lance could feel in his own.

But he flew back immediately taking his place once more. The black lion twisted and bit at anything it could thrashing in an attempt to dislodge them. But Hunk and Lance stayed strong that the black lion not moving.

But then Black stopped. Hunk and Lance held on for several moments longer until they heard Shiro’s voice.

“It’s over.” He said, “I’m sorry.” His voice cracked.

“No, no Shiro. That wasn’t your fault. We will figure it out.” Lance said, “Keith, it’s under control.” Lance said.

“Are you alright?” Keith asked.

“Yeah were fine.” Lance said.

He did feel like he had been put through the ringer though. Sweat pouring down his back made the inside of his suit begin to itch. His forehead was lined with sweat as well. His muscle were tense and one of them began to twitch. His chest ached where the black lion had connected with Blue, a side effect of their mind meddling. He breathed in and out hoping it would help but too little effect.

“Let’s retreat. We need to deal with this situation and figure out what happened.” Lance suggested.

The Blue and Yellow lions pushed the Black lion towards the castle, it floated without moving. Keith and Pidge soon joined them as they made it back to the castle. The castle continued to fire on the Galra forces who were losing steam. The team began to chat away as they approached their hangars.

“Probably the druids. Some new freaky weapon that can control stuff they’ve made.” Pidge suggested.

“I agree, I think if Pidge and I look at Shiro’s arm we can see if we can figure out was signal they used. Then made we can make our own that with counteract it!” Hunk said sounding confident.

“How’s the arm, Shiro?” Keith asked, “Is it doing anything it’s not supposed to?”

“No,” Shiro said, “Once I cut off the connection to my lion it stopped.” He said.

“Alright, we’ll still be cautious though.” Keith said.

They all agreed. Shiro was silent.

“It’s going to be okay Shiro, we’ll figure it out.” Pidge reassured him.

There was a small sigh from Shiro before he answered.

“Yeah it’ll be fine.” But he didn’t sound convinced.

 

* * *

 

They landed the black lion in its hangar before meet Shiro. Keith held his bayard in his hand and Lance noticed.

“Do you honestly think that’s necessary?” Lance asked, sounding both nervous and angry to own ears.

Keith looked at him with sad eyes which shut him up quick.

“I hope it isn’t.” He said softly.

They met him as a group. Shiro descending the ramp of his lion carefully. He looked at them and noticed Keith bayard, his face turning to stone. Lance couldn’t imagine what it felt like but at the same time he knew that Shiro probably agreed with Keith’s caution. He walked slowly to them and held up both hands.

Nothing happened. They sighed with relief.

“I guess whatever happened wore off.” Lance suggested.

“Maybe, let’s see how his hand behaves for the rest of the day before we make that assumptions.” Keith said.

“ _But_ -“ Lance began.

“ _No_ , Lance, Keith is right. Until we know more we shouldn’t assume anything.” Shiro agreed, crossing his arms.

Lance looked at Shiro who of course was acting like this was perfectly fine. He sighed.

“Okay! Then what are we going to do? We can’t keep him locked up in a cell or anything.” Lance said.

Allura and Coran came to join them. Lance and Keith filled them in on the details of the situation. Allura nodded.

“Yes, Shiro will be monitored. We can do that where the healing pods are located. Should his hand act out again we can put him in stasis for a short time while we come up with a solution.” She looked at Shiro, “I’m sorry Shiro, this is the only solution I can come up with for now.” She said.

“No, Princess. That’s fine, I’m just glad I’m not ending up in a cell.” He said.

“We would _never_ -“ She began.

Shiro smiled, “Of course not. I was joking.” He shook his head, “Then let’s get started.” He moved towards them walking towards Allura.

That’s when it happened. Lance was closest and saw it first. The hand twitched in an unnatural way and struck going for Allura’s throat.

“ALLURA!” He shouted.

Lance pushed her out of the way and in his momentum was put into the possessed hand’s path. But he was taller than Allura so the hand made contact with his chest. There was enough force that Lance went flying and _far_. The air was knocked out of his lungs and his ears were ringing. He didn’t hear the others shout his name as he made contact with the steel wall behind him. He collapsed and struggled to breathe.

He was left on the floor for a while trying to take in breaths but the force in which he hit the wall made it difficult to catch his breath again. He didn’t know how long he was like that before a gentle and firm hand helped him sit up, Keith was at his side looking worried.

“Lance, are you hurt badly?” Keith asked.

All Lance could manage was a croak. Allura came to his side next, the faces popping out of the fog that had set over his eyes.

“He can’t catch his breath. Lance slow down your breathing, it will be easier. But if you panic it’ll take longer.” She said.

He tried to comply but not being able to breathe properly was scary. His breaths came fast no matter what he tried.

Keith grabbed his hand and squeezed it bringing it close to him and then kissed it. Lance watched as he did this and if he had been in the right state of mind he would have blushed.

“Lance, babe. Just breathe. It’s okay. I’m here, Allura’s right here. We won’t let anything happen to you. It’s okay…” Keith continued to shower Lance will meaningless words but it began to work. Lance watched Keith’s lips as the moved and let the sound wash over him. He closed his eyes and his breath slowed.

“Much better.” Allura said letting out a breath of her own.

Keith let out a sigh too.

“Lance, how badly are you hurt?” Allura asked.

Lance voice came out as a strained croak.

“I-my chest and my back…” But that was all he could manage.

“Okay, it’s okay. I’m going to take off the top of your suit. Keith if you would help me.” She asked.

Keith nodded and with their combined strength they managed to get the suit plate off Lance’s chest. Allura pressed her hand in different areas on Lance’s chest and back. He cried out and Keith’s hand was there for him to squeeze.

Allura paled but continued her examination until she was done.

“Broken ribs, crack sternum. There will likely be a good amount of bruising on his back but luckily the suit took most of the blow. We need to get him in a pod.” She said standing and then bending to help Keith get Lance standing.

“S-Shiro?” Lance managed.

Keith looked at him grimly.

“Hunk restrained him right after he attacked you. He already escorted him to the stasis pod. He’s sorry he didn’t mean to do that.” Keith said.

Lance shook his head, “I know.” He said simply.

Keith smiled sadly and helped Lance to his feet with Allura on his other side. Together they escorted Lance to the healing pod and he took a moment to look at the still face of Shiro before the blue pod’s door closed in front of him.


	6. Dumb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Voltron team seem to have a knack for getting into trouble. With Shiro out of commission the team has to figure out their next move and they don't have a lot of time. Will Lance and Keith ever have a moment of peace in all this madness?

When Lance woke up from his pod Keith was not there to greet him, Hunk was. Not that Lance was surprised. With Shiro out of commission for the moment Keith was acting leader but despite knowing this it _stung_ , just a little. Hunk was ready to catch Lance out of the pod. It was the second time he had been in one this week alone. Lance stepped out and balanced himself on Hunk’s wide shoulder; his friend gabbing his elbow to support him. He looked worried.

“Hey.” Hunk said quietly.

“Hey.” Lance replied, his throat was dry.

Lance was somewhat glad that Hunk wasn’t pretending to be chipper. This whole situation was definitely not something that could be ignored with some fake happiness. Lance took another step forward and looked at the pod near his, Shiro’s face expressionless behind the blue glass. Hunk watched him, lips tightly pressed together.

“How is he?” Lance asked.

“Well…” Hunk paused, “His hand isn’t moving by itself and hasn’t since we put him in the pod. Pidge and I think that the arm is directly tied to his brain so when he’s unconscious…” He trailed off.

“It can’t move.” Lance finished.

Hunk nodded.

“Allura managed to keep a record of what exactly happened with that purple light beam thingy. So Pidge and I are analyzing it to reverse engineer something to counteract whatever made Shiro’s arm go crazy. Once we do that we should be able to get him out of that pod… Hopefully.” Hunk said with a sigh.

He looked tired. How long had Lance been in that pod because Hunk looked like he had a week’s worth of exhaustion on his face. Lance took in a breath, letting go of Hunk’s shoulder. Hunk had more important things to do than to babysit him.

“Hey, Hunk. _Look at me_.” He did, “You’ll figure this out. You and Pidge are the _smartest_ people I know. If anyone can figure it out, it’s you guys.” Lance said with a smile.

It took Hunk a moment but he returned it.

“You’re right. We got this.” Hunk said.

“Damn straight, go get ‘em!” Lance said.

They high-fived and Hunk left. Lance stood there for a moment before he looked at Shiro’s pod.

“Don’t worry Shiro, we’ll figure out something.” He whispered.

Lance wasn’t entirely sure if Shiro could even hear him but he had to say it anyway. Lance turned on shaky legs and walked out of the room.

* * *

 

 

Keith _hated_ this. Every time something went right it was like someone in the universe decided to fuck it up. One step forward and two steps back. He didn’t even have time to think about what exactly Lance was to him now. We’re they still just dating or is he his boyfriend now? Is there even a _difference_? He had no idea and no time to ponder it.

Once Lance was put in the healing pod Pidge and Hunk along with some help from Coran went off to figure out how to get Shiro’s arm back so they could by-extension get _Shiro_ back. Afterwards Keith got stuck in a meeting with Allura. As now acting-leader of Voltron they had to plan their next move. The meeting had gone on for _hours_. Keith wanted to be there when Lance got out of the healing pod and to visit Shiro again but the meeting continued. They had been going in circles.

“We have to go to a _safe_ system.” Allura urged, again.

“We are _safe_ right here and _like I have said before_ if we go to Voltron controlled system then we’ll just be leading the Galra to them. We don’t have enough power to jump to the system which means we’ll have to travel with light-speed or whatever which means that some other Galra planet could spot us and tell the Galra where we are again. We stay here until either _they_ find _us_ anyway or Shiro’s arm is better.” Keith argued.

He stared at his fingers still in his armor as they stretched across the table.

Allura opened her mouth again to argue when the door to the observation deck opened, Lance coming through in his normal clothes. Keith sighed in relief upon seeing him, moving from the table towards him Allura following close behind.

“Hey…” Keith began.

“Hey, before you ask, I’m fine.” Lance said, holding up a hand with a slight smile.

“But the two of you have apparently been in this meeting for hours. You guys didn’t even change out of your armor.” Lance pointed out.

The two of them looked down realizing exactly how much time they had spent arguing.

Allura sighed.

“You’re right. We can take a break for a moment. Keith let’s continue this in a little while.” Allura said, looking tired.

Keith nodded, “Of course.”

Allura gave a small smile before leaving. Now Lance and Keith were alone. Lance leaned against the wall looking as casual as ever.

“Do you want to change out of your armor?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded.

“Yeah.” Lance made to move, “Wait.” Keith said, stopping him.

Lance paused looking at Keith with curious eyes. Keith closed the distance between them in two strides. He gently cupped Lance’s face and kissed him. It was brief but strong a kiss with more desperate emotion than before. Lance took a moment but kissed him back with equal passion. They parted, Keith hand stroking Lance’s face. Lance’s hand cradling it.

“ _You had me worried_.” Keith said softly.

“I know, you had me worried too.” Lance admitted.

“I wanted to be there when you got out of the pod but Allura caught me and then-“ Keith started.

“I know. It’s fine.” Lance said with a smile.

“How are you feeling really? Be honest.” Keith said sternly.

“I’m _fine_. What Shiro did, it _wasn’t his fault_. At all. We’ll fix it.” Lance said, “But how are _you_? Are you hurt?” Lance asked eyes worried.

Keith smiled despite himself, warmth budding in his chest.

“Just a couple of bruises, nothing really.” He admitted.

“You sure? Maybe you should spend an hour in the healing pod just in case.” Lance said.

Keith shook his head.

“I’m fine really.” He said.

Lance looked at him, blue eyes searching for something in Keith’s face. Lance sighed.

“Okay. As long as you’re sure.” Lance said.

They parted, but Lance held onto Keith’s pinky finger with his own. It was a strangely intimate thing despite the fact that they were barely touching.

“Come on, why don’t you get changed? We can visit Shiro after.” Lance said.

Keith blinked.

“How did you…?” Keith asked.

Lance gave him an eye roll.

“ _Of course_ you want to visit Shiro, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t know that much about you?” Lance said with a smile.

“Woah you’re my boyfriend now?” Keith said genuinely shocked and said it without thinking.

Lance blinked and then blushed.

“Oh! _Uh_ … that was… I mean… if your- if you want me to be! I didn’t mean-“ Lance stuttered.

Keith blinked; he was dumbfounded. But then he laughed, like _really_ laughed. The way Lance’s face was blushed and he was all flustered. The way he stuttered and looked anywhere besides Keith’s face. It was just so different from his usual cool demeanor that Keith just laughed. It just set something off in Keith and the stress of the day’s events seem to go away for a moment while Keith laughed at his stupid, annoying, beautiful and cool _boyfriend_ as he struggled with his vocabulary.

Lance looked at him with mild concern but relaxed breaking into a grin of his own.

“You don’t need to laugh _that_ hard.” Lance said with a smile.

It took Keith a couple of tries before he replied.

“Man I can’t believe how _dumb_ my boyfriend is!” Keith said finally.

“Hey! Come on that’s uncalled for.” Lance said with a pout.

“Aw you’re cute when you’re mad!” Keith said moving to pinch Lance’s cheek which had begun to flush under his tan skin.

“ _Shut up_!” Lance said, deflecting his hand.

The two of them continued to bicker down that hall and for just a moment it was just the two of them without a problem in the universe.


	7. A Pidge in the Code

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Shiro's arm is attacking everyone on the ship he has to be put out of commission while the team figures out a solution. But while they worry there may be danger brewing on the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for being so patient with me! I think chapters will come in a more timely manner and I'm so sorry I made you guys wait!

After Keith had changed out of his armor he and Lance went to check with the others before visiting Shiro. Hunk, Pidge and Coran had hunkered down in the dining room surrounded but different tech that Lance couldn’t identify. They were deep into their research when the two of them entered, Keith making a bee-line for the table looking at the scans on Pidge’s makeshift computer.

“Tell me what you have.” Keith said leaning over the table.

Pidge startled under her headphones, having not heard them enter but jumped immediately into an explanation.

“So the druids used an infrasonic sound to send a signal to Shiro’s arm, it set off a sort of fail-sail in Shiro’s tech that made him arm attack anyone who is considered an enemy of the Galra. That being us.” she said.

“Woah, wait infrasonic sound? But there was a light… and sound can’t travel through space.” Lance pointed out.

The rest of the table looked at him curiously.

“Hey I _actually_ did pay attention at the Garrison, guys.” Lance said, crossing his arms.

Keith shrugged.

“Okay so if that’s the case how did Shiro hear the signal?” he asked.

“Well,” Hunk began, “We think the light is just a pulse, meant to disrupt secure communications long enough for the infrasonic sound to be blasted through the radio channel. Infrasonic soundwaves can’t be heard by average humans which is why we didn’t hear anything. But instead we feel a kind of pressure.” he said.

Keith nodded, “You’re right I felt something pass through me when the light touched Red.” he said.

“Exactly,” Pidge continued, “I’ve been analyzing the sound and the data I got from Shiro’s arm. It’s written in the code.” she said.

She turned the computer towards Keith and the rest of the team gathered behind to take a look at the screen. Pidge pointed to a specific line.

“Here. This is the code that activates the fail-safe program. Delete it and the program and Shiro should be fine. But it’ll take some time.” She sighed, “Like everything else this is heavily encrypted, sure I can look at the code now but actually making the changes will be difficult.”

“How much time do you need?” Keith asked.

Pidge thought for a moment before smiling slyly.

“I can do it in a night.”

 

* * *

 

Keith and Lance knew that whatever Pidge was doing she didn’t need their help. So they left to go check on Shiro which was originally what they had meant to do in the first place. They were surprised to find Allura already there, checking on Shiro’s vitals.

She turned when the two of them entered.

“Oh, hello. Do you have news from the others?” She asked meeting them halfway across the room.

“Yes.” Lance said

“Infrasonic sound caused a fail-safe program in Shiro’s arm to activate.” Keith continued, “Anyone seen as an enemy of the Galra, mainly us, would be attacked by his arm without his control. Pidge says she can delete the fail-safe program and the trigger in the code. But it’ll take time.” Keith sighed.

“How long?” Allura asked sounding concerned.

“Pidge says she can do it tonight.” Lance said, “So _hopefully_ she can.” Lance finished.

“She will.” Allura said confidently with a slight smile, “Pidge can do anything she sets her mind to.”

“True.” Keith said with a little laugh.

The three of them stood there for a moment all lost in their own thoughts when Keith spoke again.

“How is he?” Keith asked walking past Allura to look in on Shiro.

Allura walked with him crossing her arms.

“Stable. He can stay in there for a while if he needs to but it isn’t recommended. This isn’t like the healing process where you are somewhat aware of what is happening. Shiro is quite literally _frozen in time_ , when he wakes it’ll feel like the moment he was put in the pod. It can be… shocking if he is kept in there for an extended period of time.” She sighed, “However it sounds like he will be out by tomorrow morning.” She said with a smile.

Allura turned, “I have to check on the ship, if you would join me later Keith?” She asked.

“Yes, yeah of course. Just give me a few…”

“Of course.” Allura smiled and left.

Keith stood in front of Shiro’s pod his face behind the blue glass. He was quite literally frozen in there from the looks of it. Keith was pretty sure he couldn’t see Shiro breathing which was unnerving, he looked _dead_. Which was infinity worse.

Then hands were wrapping themselves around Keith’s waist drawing his attention from Shiro’s death-like appearance.

“He’s going to be okay.” Lance whispered into his neck.

His warm breath tickled a little and Keith’s body just seemed to melt into Lance’s. He was so comfortable like this, and Keith felt very small.

Keith sighed and smiled slightly.

“I _know_.” Keith said, “It’s just… I hate seeming him like this. I hate seeing _any_ of you guys in here. Especially you. I just get so worried.” Keith said softly.

He put his hands on top of Lance’s as Lance kissed his neck gently. It was comforting and extremely intimate. Keith felt the heat on his cheeks but he could feel it on Lance’s as well as his face leaned into his neck. He felt so safe in Lance’s arms.

“I’m sorry I worry you.” Lance said.

“I know.” Keith replied.

“I’m trying to be better…” Lance said.

“I _know_.” Keith said.

Lance nuzzled his Keith and took a deep breath.

“We’re getting him out of here tomorrow. Then we’re going to eat some food, do some talking and kick Galra ass.” Lance said into Keith’s shoulder.

“Sound like a plan, _sharpshooter_.” Keith said with a smile.

Lance let out a little giggle into Keith’s neck and the two of them watched Shiro’s vitals as they were intertwined.

 

* * *

 

**_Elsewhere_ **

The room was filled with a dark purple light. It casted shadows that played tricks on the mind as a figure sat in the middle of it. He was completely still while slim figures draped in expensive fabrics touched and moved around him. Aliens of every species draped themselves across his form, matching purple collars around their necks.

But the figure didn’t move. A door in the dark room opened, bathing the door in a bright light. A druid or _the_ druid walked through the door uttering a short sentence.

“Leave us.” She said.

The aliens moved quickly leaving the two figures alone as the door closed again, filling the room with a grainy darkness once more. The figure still didn’t move until she spoke again.

“What are you trying to do?” The druid demanded.

The figured shifted his weight until white hair could be seen under his dark robes. Yellow eyes opening in the dark looming like an animal ready to attack, but the eyes crinkled in a smile.

“ _Haggar_ , my _dear_. Why must you interrupt my fun?” Lotor asked.

“Your _fun?_ The only reason you are on this ship is because I _allow_ you to be. You are Zarkon’s son you are to take his place after his untimely demise. Let you play with your… harem and rarely attack Voltron, our _only enemy_. So what is it that you are trying to do?!” Hagar demanded.

Lotor let out a chuckle and rose.

“What am I _trying_ to do? I’m playing a game, Haggar.” Lotor said approaching her slowly with cat-like grace.

“ _A game?_ ” She said.

“Yes, a game. You see I care very little for the Galra Empire. This thing that my father built. Even if it were to fall it would affect me little. Since I have always been on my own.” Lotor said.

“What- How _DARE_ -“ But Haggar was cut off.

A large hand grabbed her throat so quick that she didn’t have time to react. It squeezed just enough to shut her up. Her breath hitched in her throat as she was lifted from the floor with ease.

“It is _so rude_ to interrupt when your prince is speaking to you. _As I was saying_ … I care for the Galra Empire very little but I must keep people motivated so they keep working hard. So I make the occasional speech, attack Voltron every once in a while to make them happy. You did well with the arm of the… what is his name again? _Shiro?_ Truly quite a fun move you made without my authority, although it matters little. Everything will end in my favor eventually.” Lotor said.

He kept walking forward holding onto Haggar’s neck as her toes barely touched the floor until her head hit the wall behind her.

His face became dangerously close to hers as he continued to speak. Breath hot and sticky on her cheek.

“My _game_ is to learn everything I can about Voltron before I strike blindly. I want to how the lions work, and how Allura controls the castle. I want to know how the paladins interact with their lions and how they interact with each other. When I learn everything _I will destroy them_. It is only a matter of time. But I am a patient man. I will wait for my chance.” Lotor smiled.

“But dear Haggar, do not forget. It is _I_ how allows _you_ to live. I would hate to lose such an important advisor to her own foolishness… wouldn’t you agree?” He asked in barely a whisper.

“Yes, my prince.” Haggar croaked, barely breathing.

“Good.” Lotor said.

He released her, and her hands flew up to her neck and her breath rushed back to her. He walked past her and towards the door.

“Prepare the ship. We attack Voltron while they are vulnerable.” Lotor said to the guard outside the door who immediately started running down the hall to give orders.

Haggar staggered out the door.

“What do you plan to do?” She shouted.

Lotor turned with a smirk on his face.

“I plan to board their ship. I must see my friend Lance again you see…” Lotor turned, “I’m quite looking forward to it.” He finished.

Lotor continued down the hall as a siren was raised. The ship was going to battle.


	8. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's arm is now recovered thanks to tech magic by Pidge but a relieved moment turns into chaos as Lotor returns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for waiting you guys! This chapter is a bit longer! Enjoy!

Keith watched anxiously over Pidge’s shoulder as she tapped away at her computer. Corded extended from the makeshift device into Shiro’s arm who was still unconscious, only this time out of the pod. The rest of the group was also gathered around her much to Pidge’s irritation. She swore that she could feel their collective breath on the back of her neck.

Pidge had indeed solved the code in the course of the night while everyone inevitably fell asleep. She awoke them all with bloodshot eyes and giant grin. They all ran into the healing pod room and released Shiro from his stasis however Allura continued to keep him under until the procedure was complete.

With a triumphant noise Pidge pressed the last key and with that the code was complete. She nodded at Allura who released Shiro from his forced slumber.

“It’ll take a few minutes for him to regain consciousness.” Allura said.

Nevertheless they waited anxiously. But minutes seemed like an eternity and Keith was bouncing his leg with nervous energy. Lance held onto his hand, squeezing it. Keith could feel the same energy coming off of Lance in waves. It was nice in a way, knowing they both felt the same way. Knowing that they were not, in fact, alone in this.

It was then that Shiro’s eyes fluttered and everyone held their breath. He opened them fully blinking several times trying to focus on everyone’s faces before giving a shy and weak smile.

“Hi.” He said gently, making no attempt to move. Probably terrified that if he did his arm would attack someone he loved.

But they all smiled back and despite everything they gathered themselves on top of him with laughs of relief. They all hugged him as he laid on the table. At first he didn’t move but then he melted slowly into the embrace and he realized that his arm made no moves that were not his own. He held them as best he could which was difficult with his arms being trapped under him. They laid there for a moment before they released him.

“How are you feeling?” Allura asked.

Shiro smiled and sat up to look at them all.

“Fine and my arm is my own again. It is… so good to see you guys.” Shiro said his eyes a little glossy.

“You too. Thank Pidge, it was all her doing.” Keith said placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Pidge shook her head.

“It was a group effort.” She said shyly.

Even though Pidge was usually one to take the credit she could be extremely shy about it as well. This was one of those moments.

“Thank you Pidge.” Shiro said sincerely, “And to everyone of course. And…” Shiro turned to Lance who was standing slightly behind Keith.

“Lance I am so, so sorry…” Shiro began.

But Lance raised a hand and shook his head with a smile.

“No need, I’m fine. We’re good.” Lance said.

For good measure he reached over Keith and tapped the side of Shiro’s face in a gentle way, his fingers lingering for a small moment before letting go. Shiro felt like a kid all over again. He had a brief memory of his mother doing something similar when he was young. It was comforting. Shiro’s eyes got a little glossier.

“Thank you.” Shiro said, wiping his nose.

Everyone smiled because Shiro was not one to express himself easily. This was a very special. When he collected himself again he started to ask his questions.

“So my arm will be fine now?” He asked looking at Pidge.

“Yes should be totally a-okay forever. I deleted the fail-safe program and modified your arm a bit while I had the opportunity.” Pidge said with a smile.

Hunk rolled his eyes, because of course she did.

“I don’t want to doubt your abilities but Shiro’s arm isn’t going to explode is it?” Lance asked actually concerned by the possibilities.

Pidge looked deeply offended.

“ _No. It won’t_ … at least it shouldn’t. Nah it was little stuff. Like when you activate your arm it’ll glow blue now! Like the blue light on our uniform. Still has the same abilities just I made it yours now.” Pidge said with a smile.

Everyone looked at her with awe and then smiled gratefully. Especially Shiro.

“Pidge…” He began.

“Don’t thank me. That arm has always belonged to you it’s just now, it matches our color scheme. I thought it would do you some good. We can even do a paint job later if you want. Maybe we can make it white!” She said with a smile.

Shiro had no words so he held out his arms instead. Pidge didn’t hesitate to jump right into them, barreling head first. Shiro hugged her tightly against his chest and he looked so very happy. Happier than he had in a while.

Lance smiled and so did everyone else but of course, it couldn’t last long. The ships alarms sounded causing everyone to jump. Allura reacted first bringing up a floating screen, on it one massive ship. Lotor. Lance swallowed.

“Damn it.” Lance said quietly.

“Ready the lions.” Keith said, “Armor, weapons, everything. Shiro can you fight?” Keith asked.

Shiro let Pidge go.

”Yes.” He said hopping down from the table.

“Alright then let’s…” Keith began.

“There’s no time!” Allura said alarmed.

The ship on the screen was dangerously close now.

“What?” Keith questioned.

“He isn’t stopping.” Lance observed and then it dawned on him, “He isn’t going to fight us in space. He’s going to board us. Even if that means running his ship right into ours.” Lance said with certainty.

It did appear to be the case. Everyone looked at Shiro.

“Alright. Keith, Lance. Stay with the princess and Coran here on the ship. Pidge, Hunk and I will do what we can to stop the ship in the lions or however we can.” Shiro paused, “Prepare to be boarded.” He said finally.

 

* * *

 

Lance was in his armor in lightning speed. He had not expected to meet Lotor face to face anytime soon. Although he saw him regularly due to his illusions which still came to him (although they had begun to fade) he had hoped he would never see him again. But it didn’t matter at the moment. He was going to see him and he would keep everyone safe as best he could.

His bayard appeared in his hand, as it did often now. Materializing from nothing an ability he had mastered in the last couple of months. He knew that something similar had happened to Shiro right before he disappeared. But he also knew that Shiro hadn’t been able to repeat it. The others didn’t seem to notice this new ability but Lance didn’t say anything either. It seemed like a natural part of the process. Maybe he was really becoming a good paladin. Maybe.

Lance left his room in full armor. Keith joined him soon after followed by Allura and Coran. The four of them made their way silently through the halls, going to the deck of the castle. When they heard the unearthly screeching on the side of the wall that they were passing they all stopped to stare. They watched as the metal wall began to shift and crumple like paper.

“Helmets!” Lance said.

They all activated the full helmet, sealing their suits as the wall was penetrated by a huge spike that opened and slit the wall as if it were nothing. It opened more and clamped onto inside of the wall sealing it from the cruelty of space.

Lance had his gun pointed, Keith beside him with his sword at the ready. Allura and Coran on full alert behind them.

Inside the split spike was a hallway and through it a door which opened to reveal the one and only Lotor. In the flesh. Lance was not entirely prepared to face him. But Shiro had trusted him with a task and by god he was going to finish it.

Lotor slaughtered in like an alley cat in his bizarre grace. Tall like the Galra guards with him, his head donned in an impressive helmet. Purple glass covered his face, black helmet covering his hair and from the top of it horns protruded like an ugly crown.

His guards were armed pointing their weapons at the paladins while Lotor seemed to pay them no mind. Upon seeing Lance he smiled wickedly and Lance gulped. He hated that look, like Lotor had already won. But Lotor’s yellow eyes shifted to Allura and the smile grew. Lance went cold. That bastard was not going to lay a finger on her.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Keith move to Allura, standing right in front of her. Lance knew for a fact that Allura was completely capable in a fight. But he was not going to risk it.

“Keith, take the Princess and Coran. I’ll keep him busy.” Lance said.

Keith looked at Lance in what Lance guaranteed was disbelief but at the moment he didn’t have the luxury of looking. His gun trailed on Lotor’s head.

“I’m _not_ doing that. I refuse to leave you alone with him, not again.” Keith said sternly.

Lance smiled, of course.

“You don’t have a choice.” Lance said back, “You have to protect the princess. He wants her. You have to protect her with your life, you understand?” Lance smiled.

“Go.” Lance said, “Come back for me when you can.” He finished.

Keith was silent. But he began to shift his weight and Allura stayed behind him as the three of them left. Keith whispered into his comm gently.

“You have to come back, that’s an order.” Keith said.

That sentence was for Lance’s ears only. He smiled.

“Understood.” He said.

Keith’s steps padded away. Lotor had made his way into the hall of the castle stepping over the broken metal with ease. He looked down the hall where Allura was making her escape and frowned before turning to Lance.

“Lance! My friend! I was actually hoping to speak with Allura but you sent them away! That is very rude.” Lotor said with a smirk.

“Sorry to disappoint you. But Allura doesn’t really want to talk with you.” Lance said.

Lance was surprised he sounded brave but his heart was quite literally quivering in his chest.

Lotor smiled.

“It doesn’t matter.” Lotor turned to one of his guards and nodded.

The guard moved to split off to go after Allura. But Lance quickly aimed and fired, the Galra tried to avoid it but he wasn’t fast enough for Lance. The guard’s mask cracked and he fell like a stone. A split second later Lance had his gun trailed on Lotor again. The other guard raised his weapon to fire but Lance spoke.

“Shoot and I guaranteed I will kill your boss. Not a step or even a twitch if you want your Prince’s head to stay attached.” Lance said his voice stern.

The guard hesitated and Lotor raised his hand. Lotor’s eyes fixed on his now-dead guard, the other backing off, weapon raised but relaxed.

Lotor smiled and look from his dead guard to Lance with a grin. He was grinning like a child.

“My _my_ , blue paladin. You have indeed changed since we last were together. You are quite aware that you killed him, no?” Lotor asked.

“Not my first.” Lance said.

“No certainly not, but still it must difficult to kill someone in such close quarters. Truly, look at the way the blood pools. That was really rather remarkable.” Lotor said, pleased.

It was disgusting. Lance tried to not think about it. Lance had killed another Galra face-to-face when he was making his escape with Pidge and Keith on Lotor’s ship. The first time he had summoned his weapon, he had killed that guard in cold blood. But it wasn’t until much, much later that he had realized exactly what he had done.

His father was a military man. He taught him one thing when Lance was first learning to shoot.

_“Son, one thing that you must understand about a weapon like this is: you have to be fully aware of what you are doing. Everything has consequences. If you ever point this at an animal you have to be prepared to kill it. If you ever point it at a person you need to remember that you will kill them. That kind of thing is something you don’t forget. You don’t go into this with half a mind. You must be prepared completely before you pull the trigger.” He said._

The memory came and went when he pulled the trigger the first time. He had been prepared completely and fully for the consequences. He had been but it only really sunk in afterwards and he tried not to think about it. But his father was right, he never forgot. And he would never forget this time either.

“I know the consequences of my actions. It isn’t as though Voltron hasn’t killed before. It’s not just robots on the ships we destroy. There are people and even prisoners on those ships. But war has a price. This is ours. I just wonder if you know yours.” Lance said.

“My price?” Lotor questioned, amused.

“Yes. This is quite the gamble you have here. Boarding our ship? My teammates are already trying to find a way to get you off our castle. Likely your ship, your people are going to suffer for this. So what are you after _really?_ You don’t do anything unless it is to your advantage.” Lance said.

Lotor smiled.

“Yes of course. I came here for information.” He said.

“Information?” Lance repeated.

“Yes. You see, Haggar recently played a nasty trick on you paladins. Using Shiro’s arm, which we had built for him, against you. It was not a play I had approved of. However what’s done is done. So I had to take advantage of the situation. Of course I see your black paladin is already fully in control. He is after all attacking my ship as we speak. However I still wanted to see.” Lotor said.

“See what?” Lance asked.

“How is affected all of you of course. Something like that couldn’t be easy. Also I wanted to see you.” Lotor said.

“What?” Lance said incredulously.

His heart leapt into his throat. There couldn’t be anyway that Lotor came halfway across the galaxy to see him, for something so trivial. It couldn’t be. Had he put the team in danger again, for just being here?

“Yes to see you. I had done quite the number on you after all. But you seem to have recovered at least, mostly. I can’t imagine how your mind is functioning. Although it is clear you have changed. My dead guard is an indicator of that much. But I imagine it must be difficult dealing with your illusions and doubt. I wonder if your team knows everything that has changed with you. Truly it is amazing what your team can accomplish if they know all the facts.” Lotor smiled and took a step forward.

Even with his mind reeling Lance had enough sense to raise his weapon a little, Lotor stepped back again. He was testing his boundaries.

“You have removed the quintessence I graciously gave you. Honestly I’m surprised you survived such a procedure! Truly remarkable. But Lance you should be thanking me.” Lotor said.

“Thank you? What kind of twisted bastard are you?” Lance asked but his voice shook.

“Yes thank me! Without my help you would have never mastered some of your abilities! Your bayard for instance. You were never able to make it appear to you before. Don’t look so surprised I saw the video footage of your escape. And the control of your lion? It improved greatly once you were freed did it not? I pushed you enough to open paths to _improve_ you. I broke your mind and your team rebuilt it. Together _we improved_ you.” Lotor said.

Lance shook his head.

“ _No_. You are lying!” He shouted.

It was sudden but the gun in his hand changed, and instead of an assault rifle like it’s usually form, it changed to a pistol. Lance held it out still pointing it at Lotor’s head. But his hand was shaking. He had never been able to change its form before. But he barely registered it, his mind was in turmoil. Racing his heart beating so loudly in his chest that he was sure Lotor could hear it. His breaths felt constricted in his chest like he couldn’t quite get enough oxygen.

Lotor either didn’t notice of he didn’t care. He continued with his monologue.

“I know that your enemy shouldn’t be helping you. And it wasn’t originally my intention however I am rather pleased with the results. See a new ability rises from just our interaction! Is it not wonderful Lance? I know I can never beat Voltron as I am and with how little I know. I want to know everything there it to know before I destroy you. Even if I destroyed you here you or others would come again and again until I am destroyed. It is the way with these things. Since I don’t know how to even destroy the lions there will always be other paladins. However you are my enemy now, hopefully the last. You should at least be a worthy enemy. I will not be beat by a kid.” Lotor paused, “But it is clear that you are no longer a child.” Lotor finished glancing that the dead guard on the floor.

Out of the corner of his eye Lance saw the blood had pooled enough to touch his shoe. Nausea threatened to empty the contents of his stomach.  

At that moment the castle rocked and Lotor turned. The clamps on the wall had been dislodged slightly by the impact and the air was being sucked out of the hall again. Lotor smiled.

“It appears that is my que to leave. I have what I wanted. I hope we meet again, Lance. Maybe next time we can meet on the battlefield.” Lotor turned.

Lance watched as Lotor left through the door he came. Even as his back disappeared Lance still held up the gun aiming where he had been. All he could hear was his own short breaths, loudly filling the air.


	9. In the Dark There is a Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is stuck in a fog and breaks down as soon as Keith arrives after Lotor's visit. But even in the midst of dark times these two can find the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for waiting! There will be one more chapter after this taking place in the future so stay tuned! Thanks for all the love and support!

Breath. It was all Lance could hear. His own breath harsh as it bounced back at him in his helmet which remained sealed. He vaguely registered that the castle had made a barrier between where the clamp used to be and the space outside, even now is was repairing itself. But Lance stared at the hole with tunnel vision, a buzzing in his ears and a thick film over his eyes. And yet he couldn’t look away.

So part of him hoped that this whole thing was an illusion. His mind playing the worst trick of all. But it wasn’t. Lotor was here, here for him. Here to see how he reacted and how he had changed. He hadn’t changed that much had he? And everything Lotor said? Was it true? He improved him, changed him but all the same Lance could not deny the facts. They were laid out in front of him staring him right in the face, Lotor was right many things have changed since his capture.

With him mind reeling Lance did not notice the figure in red sprinting down the hall nor did he hear him shout his name. Lance had gone deaf to any sound. But a hand grabbed him, gently. Lance whirled away and pointed the pistol at whoever it was to find Keith, his helmet off, wide eyed. He looked scared.

Lance immediately dropped the bayard. Keith _. It was Keith_. The bayard disappeared into shimmering nothingness.

“ _Keith_.” He said in a hushed whisper.

Keith blinked but nodded slowly looking like he wasn’t sure what to do. But Lance didn’t know what to do either. He had just pulled his gun on Keith, his friend, his teammate, his boyfriend, the guy he was completely in love with. That realization hit hard. _Of course_ , Lance loved him. It was obvious.

“I-I’m so _so sorry_ , I shouldn’t have- I didn’t hear you and Lotor was just here and he said some stuff. I don’t know if it was true, it can’t be right? I didn’t mean to- _I would never, ever hurt you_.” Lance said desperately.

Keith nodded again and slowly reached for Lance’s helmet, freeing him from it. The cool air of the castle rushed in and the fog seemed to lift. Lance gasped as if he hadn’t been breathing this entire time.

“I _know_.” Keith said gently, “I know. I shouldn’t have left you with him. Not again. _Never again_. I swear even if that means I have to kill him myself. I will never leave you with him again.” Keith said, dropping Lance’s helmet onto the floor with a soft clunk.

Lance looked at him, his deep dark eyes sparked with rage and concern and were deep like the ocean. Lance nodded and with that simple motion tears started falling out of his eyes in rapid succession. He was powerless to stop them so his face crumpled. He let out a sob. It tore at his throat and burned his lungs. God he hated crying so much.

Keith was slightly shocked but after a moment grabbed Lance in the tightest bear hug he ever had and that was saying something. Keith hand was wrapped around his head fingers working through his hair, around arm strong on his back. Lance clung to him, or tried to in their uniforms. Keith’s arms felt large around him and he continued to sob.

“I’ll never leave you, okay? Your safe now, we’re all safe now. Don’t worry, I’m right here. I’m sorry I left, I won’t do it again.” Keith whispered in Lance’s ear.

They continued this, eventually the two of them sliding down the wall with Lance tucked under Keith’s chin, his legs in between his. Eventually he calmed. His breath came back normal, the sobbing stopped and he felt empty.

 

* * *

 

Lance fell asleep in Keith’s arms and he was glad for it. Hearing Lance sob was something that Keith never wanted to experience again. The way he looked when he held his gun up at him, like a wounded animal, terrified. He didn’t look like Lance at all, he looked like a ghost of him. He heart clenched in his chest. He didn’t want to leave him, never not for a second. But the situation called in and he and Lance chose duty over each other. Never again, Keith was going to kill Lotor for what he did.

He didn’t know what Lotor had said he only heard Lance’s replied through the helmet.

  _“Shoot and I guaranteed I will kill your boss. Not a step or even a twitch if you want your Prince’s head to stay attached.”_

_“Not my first.”_

_“I know the consequences of my actions. It isn’t as though Voltron hasn’t killed before. It’s not just robots on the ships we destroy. There are people and even prisoners on those ships. But war has a price. This is ours. I just wonder if you know yours.”_

_“Thank you? What kind of twisted bastard are you?”_

_“No. You are lying!”_

He looked at the floor, a few feet away and in front of the now repairing wall laid a dead Galra. Purple blood oozed onto the floor, beginning to stick. No it wasn’t Lance’s first. Keith remembered vividly the first time but for Lance to be forced to kill again, it was _unfair_. Why did it always have to be Lance?

But the way Lance had talked it sounded so different. Like how Lance had been after his capture. Keith hated it. One step forward, two steps back. He let out a breath and watched Lance for a bit. He was a log, not even moving in Keith’s arms. Tear streaks ran down his face and he looked paler then usual but he was calm, asleep, alive and relatively speaking, well. Keith gently pressed his lips to Lance’s forhead taking in the smell of his hair and how soft it felt against his lips. He pressed to kiss gently hoping to offer whatever comfort he could. As he pulled away feet were running down the hall.

Everyone came. Shiro came first his helmet gone and looking very worried as he rounded the corner making a beeline to the two of them on the floor. Hunk and Pidge were next tossing their helmets aside when they spotted the two of them and coming to their knees roughly on either side. Allura and Coran hovered just over everyone’s shoulders leaning down to see, they were surrounded.

“Is he, are you both alright?” Shiro asked.

Hunk pressed a large hand to Lance’s face noticing the tear streaks with concern, Lance didn’t stir.

Keith tilted his head.

“I don’t know, physical we’re both fine but Lance he- he was very upset after Lotor came. I don’t know what he said, Lance asked that I protect Allura. All I could hear were his replies and well, I saw what he did to the Galra over there.” Keith said gesturing with his chin.

Shiro and everyone looked and saw the blood drying on the floor. Allura gave a little gasp. Coran shivered.

“The poor boy.” Coran said gently.

Keith looked down at Lance and nodded.

“I know it wasn’t his first, he killed a guard while we were making our escape off of Lotor’s ship. He never talks about it and I didn’t bring it up but he- he practically collapsed after I came back for him. I think he’s just exhausted.” Keith said pushing back a strand of hair from Lance’s face before looking at them all again.

Shiro nodded sadly.

“Hunk why don’t you and Coran carry Lance back to his room and make him more comfortable.” He suggested.

The two of them nodded and although Keith didn’t want to let him go he also knew that he could not carry him all the way to his room and reluctantly put him into Hunk’s arms, Allura following quickly behind. As they left Shiro and Pidge stayed as Keith made no attempt to move.

“Are you okay?” Pidge asked.

Keith nodded and the reconsidered and shook his head instead.

Shiro but a hand on his knee.

Keith took a breath before he spoke but even as he began his voice cracked.

“Why does this keep happening to him?” Keith asked tears now making their way into his eyes and down his cheeks.

“It was horrible, the way he sobbed, the way he looked so scared. I just-I shouldn’t have left him. He was here alone, _again_ with the sick son of a-! I swear next time I’m going to kill him- if he he ever tries to even touch a hair on Lance’s head…” But he couldn’t go on anymore because his own emotions were getting in the way.

Shiro sat next to Keith and put an arm around him, leaning Keith into his chest. Pidge curled up on the other side, a small bundle of warmth beside him. Despite the situation Keith felt like he had found his family at last.

 

* * *

 

Eventually Keith calmed himself and both Shiro and Pidge escorted him to his room where he was instructed to change and sleep. Not that he needed orders, he felt so drained that he could sleep for a week. They ran into Hunk and Coran who assured him that Lance made no fuss and they put him to bed with extra pillows and blankets for his comfort. Keith was grateful.

He stripped down and put on a t-shirt and shorts. He crawled into his bed and dimmed the lights and sleep took him before his head was fully on the pillow.

 

* * *

 

When he woke it was to knocking at his door. Keith turned blurry eyed and like he was coming out of a coma. It took him a few seconds before he spoke his tongue feeling lazy in his mouth.

“Come in.” He said.

The door responded to his voice and a figure carrying a pillow and blanket came into the room. As his eyes adjusted Keith found it was Lance who was standing at the door.

“Sorry if I interrupted you sleep.” Lance said quietly.

Keith sat up on his bed.

“That’s okay.” He said.

“Can I… join you?” Lance asked shyly.

Keith blushed but he doubted Lance could see in the dark.

“Yeah, yeah of course. Come on in.” Keith said.

He scooted to the wall of the bed and lifted the blanket. Lance crawled in, tossing his pillow next to Keith’s and piling his extra blanket on top of both of them. They laid together staring at the ceiling in silence for a couple of moments, the bed was not exactly built for both of them but they were both on the leaner side so they fit snuggly.

“I’m sorry about earlier.” Lance said.

“What?” Keith asked.

“About me pointing my gun at you.” Lance said.

“It’s fine, I startled you-“

“I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU KEITH!” Lance almost shouted.

Keith jumped he looked over at Lance and sat up.

“You didn’t.” Keith said, looking down at him.

Lance clenched the blanket, biting his lips.

“I could have.” He said.

“But you _didn’t_ , because you recognized me even with everything else going on.” Keith said, “Because that’s how good you are, sharpshooter.” Keith said.

Lance sighed, “Some sharpshooter. Almost shooting the guy they love in the head, yeah, _great_.” Lance huffed out.

Keith was about to reply but then he played that sentence back in his head.

_Almost shooting the guy they love in the head, yeah, great._

_The guy they love…_

Keith breathed in. Of course. Yes, Keith realized. They had been idiots all this time. They love each other! Of course they do. Keith knew deep down that this was a bit silly. They had been dating for what? A couple of days? But he had realized that he has been in love with the beautiful, funny, selfless guy for so long. So long.

“You love me.” Keith stated.

Lance blinked and even in the dark light he could tell that he was as bright as a tomato.

“YOU LOVE ME!” Keith said excitedly.

“God! The whole castle is going to hear you will you keep it down!?” Lance said shooting up to sit.

“I don’t care, you _love_ me and I _love_ you and nothing else matters.” Keith said.

Before Lance could even sit up all the way Keith was pushing him down their lips were locked on this kiss was not filled with desperation like the last one, it was filled with love.

Lance gasped but gave the kiss back with equal happiness. And after a bit they parted, breathless with realization.

“You love me.” Lance said with a smile.

“Damn straight I do.” Keith said and kissed him again.

Tonight nothing mattered, Lotor, the castle, hell even the rest of the team. All that mattered was that Lance was safe in him arms, in his bed, with him because he _loved_ him. Eventually they would talk about everything a little at a time. There was no need to rush and not everything could be solved that night. Time was on their side. They would grow closer and argue more like an old married couple because at that point they practically were.

As the two of them slept Keith thought that this was the happiest he had ever been and even if everything in the universe was working against them as long as he had this, he would be just fine.


End file.
